


Long After You're Gone

by Naomida



Series: Howl at the Moon [7]
Category: Fantastic Four, Invaders (Marvel), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, Gen, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Pack Feels, Puppy Piles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 15:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7272871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naomida/pseuds/Naomida
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“This has to stop.” said Johnny, frowning and crossing his arms, staring down at his sister and mate from the doorway.<br/>“That's what I've been telling everyone for the past week.” sighed Sue, squirming a little when her right leg started falling asleep because of Jim's weight resting on it.</p><p>Namor groaned, the sound dampened by all three covers he had pushed up over his head, and Johnny's frown deepened.</p><p>“Seriously, how am I supposed to get it on when my mate keeps on sleeping in my sister's bed with six other people?!” he asked, voice raising.<br/>“There are only four of us in the bed,” mumbled Peter, not even making the effort of opening his eyes.<br/>“And don't talk about your sex-life.” added Namor, voice still muffled.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Long After You're Gone

Sue woke up sandwich between Namor and Peter.

Blinking blearily at the back of Namor's head, she tried to remember how they had both ended up in her bed when she realized that she had been woken up by the vibration of her pillow. Frowning, she reached under it and grabbed her phone – how it had gotten there, she seriously had no idea – before accepting the incoming call, stifling a yawn behind her left hand.

“What the hell are you doing?! I've been trying to call you for _three days_!” muttered Tony's voice.

Blinking in confusion and wrapping her left arm around Namor, Sue took a second to clear her throat before whispering into her phone.

“Something came up. Are you calling because of what I think?”

“Yeah. Why the hell are you whispering?”

Peter sighed and fitted himself even more closely to her back just as a new arm shot out behind him to grab Sue's waist.

“I have three other wolves in my bed, apparently.” she said, frowning.

Judging by the smell of his cologne, Johnny was the third one, which wasn't exactly surprising considering that he never really left Peter's side for more than an hour at a time. In fact, the most surprising fact about all of this was that they had all managed to fit into her bed.

Maybe she should buy a king sized one.

“You know what, I don't even want to know.” replied Tony, sounding mad and impatient. “I've found our guy.”

“Who, this Thomas guy? I thought he was dead.”

“Yeah, apparently so did he. It's a long story and the guy is kind of traumatized, but I told him about you and he wants to meet you as soon as we're back, so I thought I'd give you a heads up.”

“Where are you, exactly?”

“New Mexico, but it's a long story, I swear I'll tell you all about it if you want just please, if Steve swings by asking about it, you know nothing and didn't hear from me.”

Frowning even deeper, Sue wondered for a second if she wasn't dreaming or hallucinating this conversation. That would have made more sense than what Tony was saying.

“Wait, Steve doesn't know? I thought you were asking him for information.”

“I was, but he didn't want to talk and I managed to find a guy who went to war with all of our friends and knew some stuff about this Thomas. Long story short, I'm in the middle of the desert, pissed off and ready to decapitate Steve as soon as I get back.”

“Is that why it took you a month instead of the promised week to call?”

“Yeah, sorry about that by the way.”

“Don't worry, it's actually better that way.”

She couldn't imagine what she would have done if Tony had arrived with this guy while Victor was still out and about as a wolf. Not that the situation was anywhere near better now, but at least she didn't have to explain to Tony why she had left a potentially feral werewolf do his own thing for a whole week without any kind of supervision.

“Cool. Great. Oh and, before I forget, don't tell your pack yet, because I have a feeling things are going to get pretty intense as soon as Hammond hears about it.”

“Alright.” she sighed, burying half of her face into her pillow and wishing for one single drama-free month in her pack, not that she was naive enough to think that it was possible.

“Okay then, I'm gonna let you go back to your orgy.” said Tony.

She didn't give him the pleasure of a reply, just ending the call and throwing her phone at the foot of the bed before pulling Namor closer and closing back her eyes.

 

 

***

 

 

The next time she woke up, everyone was still sleeping soundly and it took her a good five minutes to extract herself from all the limbs in her bed and get out of her bedroom without waking anyone up.

She found Loki munching on cookies in the kitchen, and accepted with a smile when he handed her one as she sat to his right.

He pushed the untouched cup of tea sitting on the table in front of him closer to her and waited until she had taken a sip of it before speaking.

“Since I've been working for the Marrok ever since he _became_ the Marrok, I know the name of every werewolf in the country.” he said, his eyes turned to his laced fingers resting on the top of the table.

“Tony called you too?” she asked, her throat suddenly dry despite the tea.

Loki nodded.

“I didn't know, or I would have told you.”

“It's okay.” she replied, looking down at his hands too.

His fingers were long and thin, belonging more to a pianist than one of the strongest wolf this side of the Pacific.

“There's something you should know.” she added when the silence between them grew too thick.

She kept on watching his hands as he reached for another cookie that he started breaking into pieces.

“I know what Nathan Summers' mate is capable of, Sue, and you've been quite different with me ever since you've come back.”

Swallowing down, Sue glanced up at his face, surprised to discover a sad smile there. He was looking at the cookie but it was clear that his thoughts were far from the kitchen. She didn't know what, exactly, he was thinking about, but it was obvious that it was unpleasant.

He flinched when his hands were covered by one of Sue's and blinked down at it like it was going to attack him.

“I know I'm not really your Alpha, but I'm here if you feel the need to talk about it.”

What was left of the cookie fell from his hands as he looked up at her, green meeting blue, and his eyes turned less sad, softer.

“I'll keep it in mind.” he said.

“Good.” she replied, letting go of his hands to wrapped her fingers against her cup of tea, not looking away. “Can you tell me what is going on with Namor then?”

Loki scoffed and rolled his eyes, his entire demeanor suddenly changing, and just like that, Loki the arrogant Alpha was back.

“He's finally realized that trying to remember his past through me isn't going to work. You should be happy, since I very clearly remember everyone being very vocal about their distaste for our physical relationship.”

“If physical relationship is what you call dry-humping on the couch while insulting each other then yeah, I'm happy and this is going to make Johnny's day, but I also clearly remember you telling me that you weren't going to be involved with the pack when you first told me that you wanted to submit, and things have obviously changed in this regard.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.” he replied in something that would have been described as mumbling if only it he hadn't been the one talking.

With his chin stubbornly up and his shoulders back like they were, it was hard to think of Loki as the mumbling type – although he was totally pouting, and Sue couldn't wait until she told Jim about it.

“You've spent the last two months sleeping in Namor's bed.” she sighed though, because she was a serious Alpha and it was rude to make fun of a man who could kill her on the spot.

“Which brings us to the obvious conclusion that it is time to renovate Von Doom's bedroom into mine.”

“What?” flatly asked Sue, raising an eyebrow.

The last thing she had been expecting what _that_.

“You see, whether our dear friend Victor ever come back or continues to live on as a wolf doesn't really matter, since we know that Richards won't let him get out of his sight, and as you've so charmingly remarked, I might have accidentally moved in in the past two months. Therefor, I need a bedroom, and he has the second best view.”

“How kind of you to let me keep my own bedroom.” she sarcastically replied.

“I've hesitated a lot about it, to be honest, but his former bedroom is the farthest one from your brother's so my choice was obvious.” he smirked.

Sue laughed, loud and heartfelt for the first time in what felt like forever.

“Johnny's gonna yell no matter what so alright, you can have the bedroom.”

Loki rolled his eyes but she didn't miss the way he relaxed at that.

 

 

***

 

 

Tony had insisted on meeting her at some diner, in the middle of nowhere in New Jersey, of all the places in the world. She had debated bringing Loki with her, since he apparently already knew this Thomas guy, but had decided against it when she had remembered that Tony turned into those little barking dogs old women loved so much every time Loki was involved.

She wished she would have asked Loki for some information when she walked to the booth Tony was sharing with a _child_.

Okay, maybe not a child, but _definitely_ not an adult. Hell, even Peter looked mature compared to the black haired kid sitting next to Tony and looking nervous.

Tony introduced them with a simple “Sue Storm, Thomas Raymond” and no one said anything until a server brought some coffee over.

“Tony said that your Jim's Alpha.” finally said Thomas, planting his eyes straight into Sue's.

He was an omega, she realized with surprise – because they were so rare to come by or because she hadn't realized as soon as she had sat down in front of him, she didn't know.

“That's right.” she replied, feeling just a little more at ease.

Omegas were good at that after all, and that was what made them so precious. They had this soothing effect on other wolfs, and weren't affected by an Alpha's powers the same way Betas were, making them able to stare an Alpha down and refuse to obey them whilst Betas would have tripped over themselves serving.

“How is he?”

“He's good.” she replied, trying to read the emotions passing through his eyes.

He looked relieved at the information, as if he was expecting some terrible news instead of that, but it was clear that he was curious and wasn't going to ask for too much details as to not be too impolite.

“He's actually my right-hand man.” she added, bringing a tiny smile to his face. “Namor was jealous about it, at first, but he managed to get over it after some time. You know Namor too, if I'm not mistaken.”

“Yeah, I do know him.” he nodded. “We actually met during the war.”

It only took one encouraging smile and nod for Thomas to start talking about his relationship with Jim, Namor, Steve and Bucky and if there was one thing Sue was sure of by the time she finally walked out of the diner, it was that things were going to get a lot messier in her pack as soon as she introduced Thomas to them.

She spent the entire drive home talking herself out of keeping it from them.

 

 

***

 

 

“This has to stop.” said Johnny, frowning and crossing his arms, staring down at his sister and mate from the doorway.

“That's what I've been telling everyone for the past week.” sighed Sue, squirming a little when her right leg started falling asleep because of Jim's weight resting on it.

Namor groaned, the sound dampened by all three covers he had pushed up over his head, and Johnny's frown deepened.

“Seriously, how am I supposed to get it on when my mate keeps on sleeping in my sister's bed with six other people?!” he asked, voice raising.

“There are only four of us in the bed,” mumbled Peter, not even making the effort of opening his eyes.

“And don't talk about your sex-life.” added Namor, voice still muffled.

“Pete, _come on_.” whined Johnny, ignoring the last comment and taking two long steps into the bedroom, starting to pout.

Sue had to admit that she could see his point there.

It wasn't that she didn't like her pack – god knew she would die for each one of them – but finding at least two of them in her bed every night or, worse, waking up every morning with people she distinctively remembered not going to sleep with was getting a little bit frustrating. The one thing she really wanted was some quiet time to think over everything she had discussed with Tony and Thomas, and half of the pack deciding to stick to her side during every single free moment she had was making it impossible.

Peter patted the space on the bed between him and Sue and Johnny, because he was weak when it came to his mate, actually went and laid down between the two of them, facing Peter and sighing happily when his mate wrapped his arms around him.

“If you insist on sleeping in my bed now, you guys better buy me a new and bigger one before I lose it and kick you all out.” muttered Sue when Namor changed position, forcing Jim to get even more closer to her side than he already was and someone's bony elbow started digging into her right shoulder.

“We will, now shush.” mumbled Namor.

 

 

***

 

 

Sue was in her office, at her _actual job_ , for once, when Steve barged in, looking furious.

“I'm so sorry!” immediately cried out Sue's secretary, appearing at the doorway and not really meeting her eyes, “He wouldn't wait.”

“It's okay,” replied Sue, trying for a reassuring smile until the door to her office was closed and she was alone with a scowling Steve.

He was much taller and larger than her, but that didn't stop him from fidgeting nervously when she crossed her legs and raised an eyebrow at him.

“Please sit,” she said, gesturing at the pair of chairs in front of her desk.

He took the chair on the right, keeping his head more or less down, glaring at her pencil cup and gritting his teeth.

She should have known her day had been going way too well.

“You found out?” she asked him, already preparing for an upcoming headache.

“If by finding out you mean did Tony march into the living-room with Bucky's _dead_ best-friend in tow, then yes, I did.” he said, weary, before putting his elbows on his knees and grabbing his head like a man who was losing it.

“I'm guessing it didn't end well.”

Steve snorted bitterly.

“Bucky almost lost it. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if Toro hadn't been an omega, he would have pulled a Victor on us.”

Sue wasn't sure she appreciated him using 'pulling a Victor', but he seemed on the verge of snapping himself so she gave him a free pass this once and focused on the problem on hand.

“Do you need my help for anything?”

“I'm actually here to warn you about Jim.” he said, sounding suddenly soft.

He slowly looked up at her and started staring at a point just under her left eye.

“I don't know if anyone told you but Toro kind of used to be like a son to him, and I'm not sure how he'll receive the news that he had to bury him for nothing and all these years he never reached out to any of us to let us know that he wasn't actually dead after all.”

Sue bit down on her lower lip and nodded, already knowing all of that. It had been one of the topic that had came up when she was talking with Thomas at the diner and she knew Jim enough to know for a fact that he wasn't going to react kindly to this.

To be perfectly honest, Sue was scared of Jim's reaction, especially considering how on edge the whole pack had been ever since Victor had decided to turn permanently.

“How is Bucky?” she decided to ask after a way too long moment, not wanting to talk about her future problems.

“I'm pretty sure he's still clutching Toro and crying as we speak.”

“He'll be fine, though?”

“I hope.”

 

 

***

 

 

It took a whole week for Bucky to accept letting Thomas out of his pack's house – and he only did because Sue told him that he could come with him. She had never talked to Bucky that much, but she knew what he had been through and had saw some of the progress he had made after being rescued by Steve and after Tony had joined their pack, and even for her it was hard to see how much feral and broken he looked as he sat at the back of Steve's SUV, one hand gripping Thomas' left wrist and his claws out. It was like he was back to being the wolf he had been after Tony had joined the pack – and the fact that neither Steve nor Tony had thought to let her know that things had gone so bad for him was kind of hurtful.

She got out of the SUV first and entered her pack's house with only Tony in tow, surprised to find everyone sitting in the living-room. In her opinion, having every member of the pact present every time something dramatic happened just made everything harder to deal with.

“Hey Sue, we didn't know you'd be home so early!” said Peter, twisting around in Johnny's arms to turn and smile at her.

His whole face went blank when he met her eyes.

“I'm gonna need everyone to stay very calm and listen very carefully.” she said, which had the desired effect: everyone turned to face her, looking several levels of confused. Even Victor raised his head from Reed's knees to peak at her.

“You smell weird.” commented Jim.

She didn't know what to answer to that, but thankfully didn't have to find words because Loki got up from an armchair, eyes wide open in surprise, and pointed an accusing finger at both her and Tony.

“You're doing this _right now_? _Seriously_? In the _living-room_.”

“I mean, it didn't turn out this bad with _my_ pack.” shrugged Tony, “In fact, only _one_ priceless heirloom was lost during the tragic reveal, which I'm totally counting as a win considering how much worse it could have went down.”

“I'm not sure I understand.” said Reed, nervously biting the inside of one of his cheek.

In fact, everyone was starting to look more and more anxious, apart from Loki obviously, and Namor, who was frowning deeply and slowly stood up from the couch.

“I know that smell,” he said, walking around the couch and closer to her, “you smell like Bucky and–”

He didn't finish his sentence.

In fact, he stopped mid-step, his whole body going motionless and rigid except for his head that snapped around so he could meet Jim's horrified eyes.

No one moved, Sue and Jim's wild heartbeats being the only sound she could really register up until the moment the front-door was pushed open behind her and Steve, Bucky and Thomas all stepped inside.

“That's impossible.” murmured Namor, still not moving, just as Jim slowly rose to his feet, mouth hanging open in disbelieve.

“You died.” added Jim, voice soft and barely louder than an exhale, his eyes turned to the black haired teenage-looking wolf standing right behind Sue.

Tony stepped to the left to let Thomas pass and Sue watched as if everything was happening in slow-motion as the Omega quickly walked to Jim, sending a tiny smile Namor's way when he passed him and literally threw himself at her right-hand man as soon as he was close enough.

They both collapsed on their knees, right next to the couch and gripped each other as if their life depended on it, Jim facing Sue in a way that meant she didn't miss the tears rolling down his cheeks or the way he closed his eyes as tightly as he could before his face disappeared against Thomas' shoulder.

One of them sobbed – or maybe it was the two of them together – and suddenly everyone was back into motion, tripping over themselves trying to leave the room as quickly as possible, Sue, Namor, Loki and Bucky the only ones staying right where they were.

Someone started rumbling, and it took Sue two very long seconds to realize that the sound was coming from _both_ Namor and Bucky. She met Loki's eyes instead of commenting and only left the room once he had given her a crooked half-smile and nodded slightly, a promise to make sure that no one got hurt or too crazy.

 

 

***

 

 

By the time Sue joined her bedroom that night, fully prepared for a sleepless night after having watched Jim leave with Thomas and Bucky in his car with nothing but a promise to call her and a “I need to do this, Sue”, she had no idea where her wolves were. She was too exhausted to try to listen in on them and decided that if they were to do something stupid during the night, she could probably take care of it the following morning.

Looking back, she should have known what she found on her bedroom's floor was going to happen.

They had taken her mattress and put it on the floor, along with three other mattresses to form one giant bed. Every single member of the pack, even Loki, was laying on it in pajamas, and there was an empty spot right in the middle of her mattress, to Namor's right.

“What are you guys doing?” she asked, too tired for her tone to be anything but flat.

“Emergency puppy pile.” replied Johnny, his head pillowed on Peter's shoulder and patting the space behind him.

“I'm not sure I'm in the mood for that.” she sighed.

“Everyone is always in the mode for an emergency puppy pile.” said Ben where he was resting between Peter and Loki.

Raising an eyebrow, Sue turned her eyes to Namor, who simply shrugged, then to Reed laying behind him who had Victor practically using him as his own custom-made mattress.

“Don't look at me,” he said, one of his hand curled into Victor's fur, “I'm the one who suggested we needed more space than just your bed.”

That shouldn't have surprised her, especially with the way they had all craved just a little more attention from their Alpha than usual recently, but actually seeing all of them on her bedroom's floor, ready to cuddle each other to sleep because they all felt like shit was making tears prickle at the back of her eyes as she tried to swallow down the lump in her throat.

“Guys...” she breathed out, suddenly floored with a weird mix of emotions ranging from gratitude and love to anguish and sorrow.

“Don't make me order you to get to bed with your ridiculous pack, Storm.” warned Loki from his edge of the makeshift bed, his eyes close and looking as if he was deeply asleep.

That got her to smile weakly as she took her jeans off and joined them, laying down between Namor, who immediately spooned her, and her brother, who didn't protest when she rested her forehead between his shoulder-blades and wrapped an arm around him and his mate.

Victor heaved a long sigh of contentment and just like that, Sue was closing her eyes and finally relaxing.


End file.
